Contributed by Gina DeCagna / Capacious and compelling in content, “Under Erasure,” co-curated by Raphael Rubinstein and Heather (Bause) Rubinstein on view at Pierogi Gallery through January 27, yields a significant platform for discourse on an evolving area of intersectional media and politics: written language and visual art. The exhibition — which focuses on works that employ erasure as … read more… “Erasure as aesthetic principle at Pierogi”
Two Coats Selected Gallery Guide: January 2019
Contributed by Sharon Butler / The new year brings good news for Bushwick gallery goers: The L Train, which was scheduled for a 15-month shutdown to undergo repairs beginning this year, is NOT shutting down. This is a welcome decision for the artists and galleries that live and work along the path of the L–Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Ridgewood … read more… “Two Coats Selected Gallery Guide: January 2019”
Art and Film: Cheapening the art world one toxic bite at a time
Contributed by Kristen Clevenson / The Price of Everything (2018), a documentary film directed by Nathaniel Kahn, seeks to assess the impact, influence, and inescapable role of money in the art world. In November, I attended a screening followed by a panel discussion featuring Pulitzer prize-winning art critic Jerry Saltz, Hunter College professor and chair of art history … read more… “Art and Film: Cheapening the art world one toxic bite at a time”
Immediate, physical, emotional: Studio visit with Elise Siegel
Contributed by Leslie Wayne / For as long as I’ve known Elise Siegel, she has been making three-dimensional work about the psyche. Although her sculptures have always addressed the body in some form or another, her subject has always been the mind. In the 90s, she made skirts and dresses from wire mesh and acrylic … read more… “Immediate, physical, emotional: Studio visit with Elise Siegel”
Melissa Meyer: Close attention to familiar surroundings
Contributed by Sharon Butler / A Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts colleague once told me that taking a new route each day was the most creative approach to commuting, but I firmly believed that walking the same route, from 30th Street Station down JFK Boulevard to City Hall, was more fruitful. Since I didn’t have to think … read more… “Melissa Meyer: Close attention to familiar surroundings”
Carter Ratcliff: Art in the age of Trump
Contributed by Carter Ratcliff / Let’s begin with a painting—not sure it’s a work of art—that could have been painted only now, during Trump’s presidency. This is The Republican Club, a group portrait of selected Republican presidents, by Andy Thomas. Hanging now in the White House, it appeared behind Trump during a recent television interview. Though … read more… “Carter Ratcliff: Art in the age of Trump”
Stephen Maine and the ice trade
Contributed by Sharon Butler / KK Kozik’s novel ICEHOUSE Project Space, located on the quaint town green in Sharon, Connecticut, is an old 10 x 15-foot wooden shed that was once used to store ice from nearby Mudge Pond. Stephen Maine hung his first site-specific painting there this past November. However rustic, the effort was auspiciously … read more… “Stephen Maine and the ice trade”
A gallery closes: EBK in Hartford
Contributed by Neil Daigle Orians / The first time I visited EBK Gallery on Pearl Street in Hartford was during my second-to-last semester in graduate school at UConn. Our professor was exhibiting new paintings, so a group of us piled into my car and made the trek from Storrs. Thanks to an unfamiliarity with Hartford, combined … read more… “A gallery closes: EBK in Hartford”
Vija Celmins: To fix the image in memory
Contributed by Laurie Fendrich / Anyone walking out of the Vija Celmins retrospective that opened last week at SFMoMA thinking how good she is at copying things might just as well have stayed at Starbucks and googled her name on Wikipedia, where this dumber-than-dumb entry awaits: Vija Celmins is an acclaimed Latvian-American visual artist best … read more… “Vija Celmins: To fix the image in memory”
Quick study
Contributed by Sharon Butler / The semester is over and I’m finally catching up on the news. Here are links to some of the stories that caught my eye: Ceramic Christmas trees, NYTimes critics pick their favorite art books of 2018, John Yau ODs on Mark Grotjahn, Sept Rodney on “Soul of a Nation,” the $200,000 Don Tyson … read more… “Quick study”